New system of remedial help at community colleges, may leave some students behind

In his long career as a professor at Capitol Community College, John Christie said his biggest joy was helping those students struggling with college after poor preparation at the high school level and watching them get on track, even if that took awhile.

With a new system of remedial help set to go into place next year at the community colleges and state universities, he and others are worried that large numbers will be left behind.

The new law, geared to boost graduation rates and not have students spend excessive amounts of federal Pell Grant money on non-credit remedial work, will provide for an intensive one-semester college readiness course with some form of additional help embedded into entry-level courses, effective in fall 2013.

"Some students take a lot of time to get up to par," he said of the adult learners he deals with who are generally low income, juggling jobs and family as they work to catch up academically.

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For the mother who struggles and makes it -- sometimes as long as six years -- Christie said the success doesn't only affect one person. "In the end, it's the whole family that benefits," Christie said.

He feared there will be high failure rates for students who can't quickly adjust, an approach that in the long run will discourage people already struggling.

"All of a sudden, they are failures? That rankles a lot of us," Christie said of his community college colleagues.

Since summer, there have been rumors that students would be set up with computer programs to accomplish some of that catch-up on their own or directed to regional centers for the intensive readiness courses, both of which made the whole transition more problematic for those already skeptical it can work.

Layered on that in the past two weeks, there was a shakeup at the top, with former regents President Robert Kennedy and Executive Vice President Michael Meotti suddenly resigning after more than $262,000 in raises for the administrative staff were issued without the approval or knowledge of the board.

Several of the community college presidents also complained publically that they were being pushed out, with the 12-month non-renewal notice required by contract voluntarily expedited for those who did not feel they could get behind the proposed changes.

Since this, too, didn't have the blessing or knowledge of the board, it now is moot.

Pushed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, higher education in Connecticut was reorganized under a Board of Regents responsible for both the community colleges, the four state universities and the online Charter Oak College, with the new board in place since January after a six-month transition.

According to enrollment figures for this fall, there are 58,228 students in the 12 community colleges, 34,947 in the state universities and some 1,330 in Charter Oak.

Braden Hosch, director of policy and research and interim director of academic affairs, in an interview Friday, tried to put some fears to rest.

He said the presidents have been meeting with him, Elsa Nunez, the vice president for state universities, and David Levinson, vice president for community colleges, on what they should do for the 5 percent of students who constitute the lowest tier of development.

Hosch said the community colleges and state universities will work together on regional strategies, not on the establishment of physical centers, with courses and solutions taking place at the colleges themselves.

He said generally there are different student populations in different parts of the states, and the college administrators have been charged with determining the most promising practices.

Hosch said the new law will no longer allow three tiers of math preparation before a student takes the college-level introductory course, but he envisioned offering specific modules that could be done over time.

Determining how students will be placed will depend on more than the present Accuplacer tool, which a study at Teachers College, Columbia University, found wasn't as great predictor of performance in college as a student's high school transcript.

He said federal financial aid can be used for non-credit courses as long as they are part of a program that leads to a degree.

For students with skill deficits below the eighth grade, these funds are not available. It was here that Hosch said there are free online programs self-paced for basic arithmetic that are under consideration.

Hosch said his understanding is that students now can take a course three times to try to pass it. He didn't envision that continuing, but there will be some flexibility.

The administrator said there are many meetings on the horizon with various faculty committees.

"The point is to get the right student to the right place to be successful," Hosch said.

He said one study showed that of the students entering in the lowest cohort, 12 percent graduated after six years.

"The large majority are not being served well," he said.

Alex Tettey Jr., 28, is an example of who the community college system serves.

Tettey, a Marine for 9 years, said he wasn't a great student in high school and, after enrolling in Manchester Community College in fall 2008, he had to withdraw when his unit was deployed for a second time to Iraq.

Since 2010, he has been a full-time student at Manchester and will be out either this June or by fall 2013. "I'm in no rush. I'd rather get higher grades than just get though," he said. After getting his bachelor's degree in political science, he is weighing law school and a career in federal service.

His leadership skills are already being recognized as one of two students who vote as part of the Board of Regents. A native of East Hartford, he is chairman of the Student Advisory Board to the regents, has worked as an intern to the Connecticut General Assembly and is the Connecticut state legislative director for Students Veterans of America.

He said there has been apprehension among students as to how the new system will continue to help those most in need. "There is a concern that they might just be forgotten," Tettey said

He said after Nunez recently addressed the advisory board, "she put us at ease as to how it will be implemented."

Tettey said decisions on who will teach the classes and the methods employed will be up to the individual colleges.

"Individual institutions will define what constitutes embedded support. It allows for flexibility," he said.

Tettey, like others, said the premise of universal access is not real if a system doesn't exist to help those with deficits make up for lost time.

"I have to put my trust in the academic deans," he said.

Tettey said the focus ultimately has to go back to the elementary and high school levels to not produce students left in academic limbo.

State Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, an administrator in the adult education program in her city, sees the need for multiple approaches to these problems.

A pilot run out of that office put some 20 students between the ages of 18-22 into a year-long program to boost English, math, computer and study skills.

Walker said they all had jobs and it was a grind, but the built-in support and a very directed program got good results. She knows this won't work for everyone, but it is a piece of the puzzle.

She's concerned that a higher education transition that relies too much on "quick fixes will put the system in more shock."

"You are trying to fit people into a box," Walker said.

The consolidation of the two systems has resulted in a $5.5 million savings, but that doesn't guarantee academic success, Walker said. "We have to be very careful and make sure that all divisions of society are represented and have the support they need," she said.

Walker said students who graduate without the necessary skills to go onto more training, whether that is academia or a technical certificate program, are "victims" of a K-12 system that failed them.

She feels that same system should be responsible for providing a solution that does not ask them to take out loans to pay for it.

Some community college faculty, hoping to work within the system to arrive at the best solution and troubled by the proposed buyout, didn't want to go on the record, but shared the concerns of Walker, Tettey and Christie.

"We're hoping for more flexibility, more open discussion, and less haste now that some of the key people have gone," said one faculty member, referring to the shakeup at the top of the new system.